Get to Know Your Boulder Police Department

Steve Redfearn, police chief

Hello Boulder, and happy Fall!

I hope everyone is enjoying the cool weather, and for those who participated in Halloween festivities, I hope it was fun and safe! 

Things are not slowing down for us here at BPD, and we continue to have many exciting things taking place despite summer winding down. 

On a personal note, I am excited to share that in October, I began a 9-month leadership program at the Department of Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate Institute. I was one of 30 people from around the U.S. chosen to participate in this cohort, and the only police chief.

The course is designed for leaders who work in fields related to homeland security. The course will allow us to hear from leaders in the public and private sector about issues related to keeping our communities safe. We will hear debriefs and lessons learned from major incidents from the involved leaders like the Washington D.C. plane crash. Our class has leaders from all areas of the military, government, and private sector, and our first week together was incredibly beneficial and educational.

The first book we were assigned to read was called Think Again by Adam Grant, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who studies or practices leadership. I will keep you updated as the course progresses, but I know I will be learning a lot that I can use to help keep Boulder safe. 

The leadership class listens to retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral David Pekoske during a fireside chat.

You might have seen media coverage that in late October, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference was held in Denver. The conference is attended by about 20,000 policing executives, officers and professional staff from agencies around the world.

Many members of the BPD command staff were in attendance as we are members, and other BPD staff, like Dr. Daniel Reinhard and myself, presented at the conference on topics like leadership and staffing studies. Dr. Reinhard’s presentation was focused on caseload capacity: an exploratory staffing study of police investigators. I sat on a panel with members of Hate Free Colorado and the Anti-Defamation League to discuss our work relating to hate crimes.  

Dr. Daniel Reinhard and Chief Redfearn speaking during two of their sessions at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference in Denver last month.

As part of IACP and due to our reputation as being a modern and forward-thinking police department, we were asked to meet with and/or host several delegations from foreign police agencies in just one week. At the conference I was fortunate enough to have lunch with and connect with representatives from the Bulgarian National Police, where we discussed police technology, narcotics enforcement, and homeland security. 

We then held two different sessions at BPD for foreign visitors. First, we welcomed over 100 members of law enforcement from São Paulo, Brazil. They specifically chose BPD to learn about our programs and initiatives. We met with them for half a day and multiple department members spoke on a variety of topics. One of our officers, who is a Brazilian native, helped provide additional interpretation with the translators during the visit and training! It was a special experience for all of us. 

Chief Redfearn and Officer Ray speak with members of law enforcement agencies from Brazil before the officers listened to presentations from Boulder Police.

Pickleball with the Police!

Finally, we met with a group of senior police and military officials from one of our sister cities. As you may know, Boulder is a sister city with Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The Dushanbe tea house is a symbol of this relationship that has been ongoing for years. The U.S. State Department reached out because the coalition from Tajikistan was in town for IACP and wanted to meet with BPD members. Thus, we hosted a meet and greet at the police department and provided similar training and presentations as we did for our Brazilian counterparts.

This was followed by an exceptional lunch at the Dushanbe Tea House in downtown Boulder, where we enjoyed a meal (of course, a traditional Tajikistani dish) and shared stories and experiences. In addition to members of BPD, Mayor Brockett and Council Member Ryan Schuchard, our sister city designee who also speaks Russian, joined us as well for a wonderful time.

Chief Redfearn and Mayor Brockett enjoy lunch at the Dushanbe Tea House with a coalition of police officers from Tajikistan.

These programs and experiences not only allow us to learn about how policing works in other countries but also expands our knowledge base and connections across the globe. Boulder is such a multi-cultural city, and it is incredible how the police department continues to lead the way on fostering international connections. I learned interesting things like what other countries are doing on the technology front, and some of the emerging threats and trends that these leaders are concerned with. These recent meetings are highlighted on our social media. I think it also sends a message to prospective recruits and community members that might not hail from the U.S. that they are welcome here!

I want to close with a bit of an update on crime. I continue to be so proud of the strides we have made this year. While we still have work to do, we have focused efforts in problem areas and worked hard with our city partners to clean up our public spaces. I have directed our officers, as time allows, to get out on foot, bicycle or e-bike, to be more present and proactive, and it continues to pay off.
 

Above are our year-to-date crime statistics. I will also note that your Boulder PD officers have engaged in nearly 3,000 more proactive interactions so far in 2025 compared to 2024. This includes traffic stops, pedestrian contacts, and directed patrols. Being nearly fully staffed allows us to continue to be proactive in preventing crime, and I owe a great deal of gratitude to our officers who take this work seriously. I wish everyone a safe and healthy start to fall.

Stay warm and Go Broncos!

Steve Redfearn, police chief
 

The Boulder Police Department was proud to join with numerous other North Metro Denver agencies last month for a practical exercise to hone a variety of skillsets as well as build and enhance relationships during large-scale investigations.

The North Central Colorado Regional Child Abduction Response Team (CART) mock scenario allowed sworn and civilian employees to practice their response to a report of an abducted, endangered child. The group was created in 2014 and—in addition to being a great way to facilitate learning to new officers—training like this also ensures the group’s national certification.

We’re proud several members of our Investigations Unit were able to attend and participate.

A community member stopped by the police department last week to report a fraud that had occurred using his company credit card. Officer Santos responded to speak with the man and learned that the original crime actually occurred in Northglenn rather than Boulder so he explained the different avenues he had to take to get this reported appropriately. He also shared ways to prevent this from happening in the future.

The community member greatly appreciated the help.
“I just wanted to let Chief Redfearn know what an amazing officer he has among his ranks. I’m speaking of Officer L. Santos,” the man emailed us after their interaction. “This young man is the epitome of professional law enforcement; courteous, respectful, thoughtful and thorough. He was a pleasure to deal with and my suggestion to the department is promote this young man and hire more like him.”

Boulder Police Department home page: bouldercolorado.gov/government/departments/police